Last month we noted that yet again the city of Dallas began looking for someone to take the downtown farmers market off its hands, after an attempt to find a private operator failed two years ago. And as Rudy noted in his piece for the paper product, this go-round the city's even offering would-be operators the option of razing some of the outdoor produce sheds. As Mr. Bush noted, they could be "replaced with housing and retail developments, even as portions of the market are retained for use by the produce vendors, boutique store owners and other small-business owners who have long been the market’s heart."

Apparently, that wasn't clear to some of the interested parties, and so yesterday the city posted to its hide-n-seek bids website a Q&A clarifying its position on the sheds -- and, for that matter, the entire market. Among the reasons: Would-be bidders -- which, per the attendance sign-in sheet for the April 4 pre-proposal meeting, include not only restaurant operators but also local architecture firms -- are wondering what they can do with the property, including, just maybe, buying and selling some of the land. That's do-able, says the city, but keep in mind there are outstanding bonds related to improving two of the sheds -- on top of $6.3 million in unspent '06 bond funds that are supposed to go toward overhauling the market.

Here's an excerpt from the Q&A posted in its entirety below:

Q: Are the developers required to purchase the buildings associated with the Dallas Farmers Market?

A: The City is looking for creative solutions for the Dallas Farmers Market property. The RFP allows the bidder to recommend a solution that includes purchasing all, a portion or none of the Farmers Market property as long as other contingencies in the RFP are met, including the permanent reservation of a portion of the site for the public marketplace.

Q: Are there any restrictions to the sale of any of the land within the Dallas Farmers Market site?

A: There are outstanding bonds that financed improvements to Shed 2 and 3 at the Dallas Farmers Market. Accordingly, there are restrictions limiting the use of those facilities for the public purposes and voted purposes of the bonds. It is possible to retire the outstanding bonds, as a component of the proposal, to void restrictions limiting the use of the bond funded facilities.

The Q&A addresses other issues too, among them: Are there pending issues with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (no, says a letter from October that also follows), does the RFP address "foot traffic coming to the Farmers Market from The Bridge" (nope), what's the occupancy rate (dunno), how many folks visit the market (again, dunno) and just why is the city doing this ("The City believes that the entire site can be better utilized and benefit from a master private developer for the site").